Did you move your bedroom furniture around over and over as a child? Were you the messy one who learned the hard way from your parent always telling you to clean your room? Were you challenged with ADD or ADHD and had difficulty feeling balanced in your environment? You created creative coping strategies to be organized. You may be a natural at-home organization, organizing businesses, organizing systems, organizing people, and helping others manage their lives. Whatever reason you have for wanting to organize it doesn’t matter. It takes a particular person to enter other people’s homes and businesses, the closet, kitchen, whole home, and even garage organization. Not everyone wants to go through other people’s stuff. Nor do all people feel comfortable having someone go through their personal belongings.
I belong to an Organizer’s network. We are all professional organizers, and we meet once a month. You would have to laugh to see how excited we get while talking about organizing a pantry. You would think we were discussing going to Paris or getting an Oscar.
It is one thing to want to be a Professional Organizer and start handing out cards. Another is to build a website or business without overhead, create a niche so you are seen as an expert, and get your name and business on the first page of Google. It is also essential for you to know the population that you will be serving.
Many people who call on a professional organizer may face emotional and/or physical challenges. It could become an awkward and unsuccessful quicksand situation if you do not have a background in working with people with challenges. Learning about mental health challenges like ADD, ADHD, OCD, obsessive-compulsive personality challenges, hoarding, collecting and acquiring, and or over-collecting will be one of the most valuable courses you can take before becoming an experienced professional organizer.
The other part of being a successful and established professional organizer is joining NAPO, the National Association of Productivity and Efficiency Experts, which gives you approval. They also have beautiful conferences where you can learn oodles of information to help you know more about the organizing business. Also, NAPO has a great code of ethics that they require you to uphold, and every item code is a good idea and over yourself, and you will help you c business.
The most crucial part of starting is building a website and advertising yourself. The second part of being a great organizer is to get educated. Learning the best way to organize a children’s room is not rocket science, but knowing how your client works, helping them understand how to be managed independently, doing assessments to give excellent space planning, and following up takes experience. Why reinvent the wheel when you can learn from the best in the business. The most important part, however, is to educate yourself, and the “bible” of organizing is The Clutter Remedy: A Guide To Getting Organized For Those Who Love Their Stuff.
The Clutter Remedy strategies will help you every step of the way to become an experienced organizer. Marla Stone, the founder of The Clutter Remedy, has her BA in Psychology and a Master’s in Social Work.
